Mary Phinney von Olnhausen
Baroness Mary Phinney von Olnhausen (1818–1902) was an American nurse, abolitionist, and diarist.[1] Historians look to the book extracted from her diaries -- "Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars" to understand the medical techniques of the Civil War.[2]
Mary Phinney von Olnhausen | |
|---|---|
 Image of Phinney from the frontispiece of her posthumously published diaries. Phinney was in her mid to late forties during the Civil War. | |
| Born | 1818 Massachusetts |
| Died | 1902 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Known for | Diarist who recorded 19th Century medical techniques |
| Spouse | Baron Gustav Adolph von Olnhausen |
| Parent(s) | Elias and Catherine Bartlett Phinney |
Early life
Born in Lexington, Massachusetts to Elias and Catherine Bartlett Phinney, a lawyer and her mother the daughter of a doctor, Phinney was well educated at several academies.
Family
When her father died in 1849 at age 69, the farm was sold and she "sought employment as a designer of print goods" at the Manchester Mills company in Massachusetts.
Baron Gustav Adolph von Olnhausen (born in 1809)[3] left Saxony after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and also due to financial troubles, which led him to sell of his property. In the 1850s He was making a meager living as a chemist in a dye-house of the Manchester Mills, where he met Mary Phinney.
They married on May 1, 1858 (she was 40 years old at the time) and he died two years later in 1860.[4]
American Civil War
During the American Civil War, von Olnhausen served as a nurse at the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia and Mansfield General Hospital at Morehead, North Carolina. After the war, she was discharged in August 1865, returning home to help raise her brother's children in Illinois.
Franco-Prussian War
With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, she volunteered to serve as a nurse with the Prussian Army and was accepted on the basis of being the Baroness von Olnhausen. She served in field hospitals in Meung and Vendome.
Awards
Mary Phinney was awarded a Cross of Merit for Women and Girls in 1873 by Kaiser Wilhelm I, which is similar to an Iron Cross.[5] She died in Boston in April, 1902.[6]
In popular culture
The book Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars was edited in 1903 by James Phinney Munroe and published in 1904. It is based on the diaries and correspondence of Mary Phinney von Olnhausen. The first part of the book talks about the lives of the people that worked in the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria as well as her work at the Mansfield General Hospital at Morehead, North Carolina. The second part discusses her work as a nurse again in 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War.
In 2015, the PBS Masterpiece Theatre produced Mercy Street, a fictional mini series portraying life in the Mansion House Hospital where Phinney was stationed.[1] The show relied heavily on her diaries and portrays Phinney as the lead character, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.[7]
References
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Stanley B. Burns (2015). "Behind the Lens: A History in Pictures". PBS Masterpiece Theatre. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
Nurses, both Union and Confederate, wrote memoirs of their experiences providing an intimate and personal look at the war from varied points of view. Mary Phinney von Olnhausen's (1818-1902) "Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars" gives a glimpse into the life of a Union nurse and was an inspiration for Mercy Street.
- "Civil War Nurses & The Mansion House General Hospital". Annandale Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
- Baptism entry Gustav Adolph von Olnhausen in the baptismal register of the parish of St. Marien Zwickau. Baptismal register of the parish St. Marien Zwickau 1801–1818, year 1809, p. 225, no. 11. Central (micro-)film register (Zentrale Lesestelle) of the Ev.-Luth. Landeskirche Sachsen, Regional Church Office Dresden.
- "Adventures of an army nurse in two wars; ed. from the diary and ... Olnhausen, Mary Phinney von, 1818-1902". Retrieved 2016-02-07.
- Uwe Brückner, ed. (2007-05-01). "Das preußische Verdienstkreuz für Frauen und Jungfrauen". Ordensjournal. Berlin. 8: 24. Reprint of Das Verdienst-Kreuz für Frauen und Jungfrauen, hrsg. v. L. Schneider, Verlag Alexander Duncker, Berlin 1872 pdf
- Pamela D. Toler (2016), Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War, Little, Brown, and Company
- "New PBS American Drama "Mercy Street" to Star Josh Radnor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Gary Cole, Peter Gerety and Norbert Leo Butz" (Press release). PBS. April 29, 2015. Retrieved 2016-01-01 – via The Futon Critic.
Further reading
- Toler, Pamela D., and Ridley Scott. Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War. New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2016.